| 14: Exit the Dreamworld "This is odd... the codes haven't arrived yet," noted Chronos, sitting in a basement with fellow members of Task Force Nine. "We can't proceed without the access codes to Iscario Yards. Von Helsing AFB isn't the problem, but if we can't get through without massive amounts of force..." "What about the magics of your cross cult?" asked one of the TF9 members, a young man with the nickname of Snuff who had short yellow spikes for hair. "They allow you to disapparate at will, no?" "They do," Chronos nodded. "But the yards and the Stellemort are protected by an anti-magic field, similar to Earthbound." "It's hopeless, then," moaned another member, another young man but with infrared glasses and short curly black hair. "It's not hopeless, Keythief. It's NEVER hopeless," declared the only female in the room, a girl with shoulder-length blondish-brown hair and a cheery expression, despite the circumstances. "Remember that time that we were stuck in Sector Twelve and being hunted by the Imperial Army?" "You're Fourdamned right I remember, Ash," nodded Keythief. "I snuck us into Commissar Patrick's headquarters through the sewers, and we dodged the army. Then Keith assassinated the Commissar-we all called him Kill Patrick after that." "But he died at Aegapradenz when we raided the military broadcasting facility," reminded Snuff gloomily. "Yeah, he did," acknowledged Ash, a sad look coming over her eyes. It was quickly replaced by stern resolve, however. "But we finished our mission, Fourdammit! We figured out a way, and we're gonna figure out a way here! It's what Keith woulda wanted." "You're a real cheerleader," noted Keythief. "Chronos, you've been silent. What are you thinking?" "I'm thinking we've got other ways in. Let me exhaust them." *** The palace of Formicus was the old holy sanctuary of the Four, in the middle of Columnia. Surrounded by the high-rent district of Librastadt, it was only in the horizon that one could get a sight of the squalor of the slums of Generatoph. Now, instead of serving as a cathedral, it served primarily to house Formicus' concubines and his other luxuries. In one of the concubine's apartments rested Angelique. She couldn't stand what had happened-she had opened the way to let Formicus take over Columnia, and at gunpoint had been forced to become a concubine. It wasn't anything new to her-she remembered her old life as a prostitute on the streets. Like before, she dealt in unsavory business to live. And, while that got her a lot more now than it had before-she was well-clothed, well-fed, and lived in a beautifully redecorated monk's cell-she couldn't help feeling that she had betrayed everything she had ever stood for. "Angelique?" She turned around to find out where the voice had come from. Nothing was there. "Angelique, do you copy?" She now localized the direction of the sound, and took out her right earring. "Chronos... is that you?" Her voice was timid, scared almost. It had been forever since he had tried to contact her. And, as she personally profited from the regime he fought, an overwhelming sense of guilt descended on her. Tears formed at her eyes. "This is me. Are you okay?" "I'm crying. I'm so sorry, Chronos..." "It's okay, Angel. It's okay." "What did you contact me for?" she asked. "How would you like to redeem yourself? Strike back at the regime that's been, well, screwing you over?" "You really could use me?" she wondered. "What for?" "Next time you see Formicus... ask him if he could give you a tour of the Stellemort..." *** Task Force Nine snuck into Von Helsing 2 days later, after an official impromptu visit by Formicus and his concubine and a leaked access code thanks to Angelique. They busted into Iscario Yards with said access code, and got as far as the third corner before they ran into a surprise. Formicus of Sioux himself was there, backed up by Imperial Special Forces all with their guns trained on TF9. "You... how?!" demanded Chronos. Formicus laughed. "I detected the magical transmissions between you and my own traitorous household. It was a simple matter, a simple trap to lay. Do you really think I'm in the habit of giving my concubines personal tours of my most powerful weapons?" "F-F-F-F-@#%$ YOU!" shouted Chronos, charging Formicus and filled with rage. He was shot in the side by one of the soldiers, and collapsed at the Corruptor's feet. "Now now, you can't die yet. I haven't extracted all your secrets from you." "What are you gonna do with us?" demanded Ash. "Throw the lot of them in Earthbound," ordered Formicus to a flunkie. "Including Angelique." "Yes, sir!" *** They all found themselves together in solitary, the only empty cell at the moment in Earthbound Penitentiary. It was completely dark, and they were all cold, tired and hungry. Many of them were bruised and bleeding from their interrogations. Snuff was shoved into the cell, and in the quick flash of light they saw that his nose was broken and his face covered in bruises and scratches. The others had experienced the same treatment, more or less, but it seemed like the interrogators were getting progressively more violent as they failed to extract the information desired. "Did you break?" came the voice of Keythief. "No," Snuff proclaimed proudly. "They shot electricity through my body, bludgeoned my face with billy clubs... but I did not break." "What did they want from you?" asked Angelique, the only one to not have undergone the torture yet. "Same thing as everyone else," Snuff said. "They wanted to know about Chronos, where he came from, what he was doing leading a team into Iscario Yards, his connections with Angelique and Vanana, et cetera." "Anything else?" Angel asked. "Yeah... one of them said 'We'll have to use truth serum with the next one'." "@#%$, Snuff!" Chronos shouted. "Don't scare her like that!" "It's true, though. They intend to exploit Angelique's connections with you to maximum extent. Only by the magical anti-discernment spells placed upon us by the Paranormal Squadrons back at base are we able to resist truth serum and mind reading spells. But... Angelique never got any such protection placed upon her." "I know what Ima do," Angel decided. "What?" asked Chronos. "If they question me, if they use the serum, I'll break," she said. "I know this. So... we have to see to it that I never break." "But you're not protected by the spells, though," expained Ash. "Weren't you listening to Snuff?" "So that means that there's only one way I'll never break," Angel said. "I can't leave this room alive." "Isn't that being a BIT overdramatic?!" asked Chronos. "We'll figure out a way, I'm sure. C'mon, help me out here Ash..." "Don't try to dissuade me, Chronos," Angel warned. "It was incredibly hard for me to decide on this. Don't talk me out of it... it has to be done and you know it." Chronos gulped. "I can't let you do this." "Too bad you're not in charge of me, then," Angel retorted. "Just... tell me what it's like after we die." Chronos sighed audibly, saddened at the prospect of having to lose another friend to the war. But he then decided to try his best to make her final hour as happy as possible. "Well, Angel... it's called Earth. Let's see... there's all these nations, and it's a wonderful, sad, happy, sick and beautiful place." "Oh? Where do the good people go when they die?" "Well, let's see... I dunno about that. But from what I've seen of it, there's this really nice part of the world that's relatively peaceful, called the Great Plains. The medium I see that world through lives in a city there, and times are kinda rough lately, but overall everyone's happy there." "Tell me more about it," Angel asked, sounding somewhat bittersweetly happy. "Well... everyone's got a place to stay, enough to eat... it's a place where old heroes shuffle safely down the street. Where you can speak out loud about your doubts and fears-and what's more, no one ever disappears." There was a sad smile creeping into his voice. "And you never hear their standard issue kicking in your door, and everyone has recourse to the law, and no one kills the children anymore." "This Great Plains... it sounds wonderful. But where do all the bad people go?" "Maryland," declared Chronos without hesitation or a second thought. "I hope I never see it," she worried. "You won't," assured Chronos. She pulled something out of her pocket, then-the shard of glass that she had used so long ago in the back alley behind Dive. "You don't have to do this, you know." "I gotta, Chronos. You were the one that saved my life so long ago... now you need to live on and fight them. It's okay, I'll see you in the Great Plains. What's some cities there?" "Um... Omaha, Edmonton, um... St. Paul-" "I'll see you in St. Paul, then," she said, a hint of bravado in her voice. There was then the sound of sliced veins, and Angel gasped in pain. "There it is," she said. "No turning back now." "We'll remember you to future generations," declared Ash. "Free Columnia, so there will be future generations to tell," Angelique commanded them. "Escape from this place and live on to write the history books." Chronos leaned over to whisper something in her ear, and the others straining to hear thought it sounded something like 'for greater love has no man than this, that-" but they couldn't hear the rest. There was then the sound of a groan and of a body collapsing limp against the concrete floor. |